Bella Marie Turns 1!

It's hard being the center of attention!  I'm sure we will capture a picture of the opposite at Ellie's birthday in a week.  Happy Birthday Bella.

Our dear friends Aline and Colin welcomed their baby girl Bella into the world on 9/23/11.  When we met her a few days after, she stole our hearts.  A couple weeks later Ellie arrived to play.  Those two girls are so darn cute together and have shared lots of fun times like baby yoga, holidays, birthdays, and hitting a bunch of milestones. Ellie was always trying to catch up to her "older" BFF Bella :)

Last week we drove up to Cape Cod to celebrate Bella's first birthday!  We left around 5:45 am to get through the City traffic before it got too bad.  With two quick pit stops I think we made itto the Cape in 6.5 hours...not too bad really. While we were there we were able to spend a couple days with the Pieroways, which is always a good time.  We took the kids to the Capron Zoo and Chucky Cheese (which I didn't know was still around), had lots of laughs and got to catch up with everyone.

Ellie hanging with the boys: William and Owen

Riding like a big girl!

Looking at the kangaroos

These two are birthday buddies.   I think Ellie loves him....look at that face!

On Friday night we stayed with our friends Dave and Lisa and went out for our favorite....Sushi!  It had been a while since we had good sushi so that was a must.  Then we spent the rest of the weekend at the Cape Wind Resort and at Bella's house for the party.  Everything was perfect.  The decorations were beautiful, food was fantastic, and the girls were just so cute.  I mean, really, how adorable is that tu-tu?!?!

Thank you Ryans for having us up.  Of course we'd never miss Bella's first birthday.  Love that sweet girl!!!!

Apple Picking 2012

APPLE PICKING 2012

The last time we went apple picking Ellie Reese was in my belly and I was about 38 weeks pregnant.

Fast forward 1 year and here we are Shady Brook Farms in Bucks County, PA, and the love of our lives is picking her first apple.  I can't believe how fast it really all goes.  

 It was a beautiful day for apple picking, although a bit warmer than we expected.  This farm had a bunch of goats and sheep to pet, bounce houses and trampolines, gem mining for the little ones, corn cannons, lots of food, pumpkins, and apples.  At night they put on a great haunted hayride and corn maze.  I love that kind of stuff but I'm guessing it will be a few years before we bring Ellie to anything scary.  In the meantime, we'll keep picking apples!

She loves animals

First wagon ride to the orchard

So cute!

She's so proud of herself!

Touchdown! 

Look at that mischievious smile

Lots of fun baking and canning to do with all the apples we picked.  I love fall!  

11 BIG months old, XOXO, Ellie Reese

Hey y'all!

Today I am 11 months old. I'm standing up on my own and just started taking itty-bitty steps.  I like crawling way better but my parents put me through drills every night so I guess I better get moving on the walking stuff.

I still have no teeth but I love food....all kinds of food!  Sleeping is still cool, as long as my momma give me my favorite blanket.

 Life as an 11 month old is pretty good, but I can't wait to be 1 year old because so many of my Massachusetts friends are coming down here to party with me for my birthday!

I've been keeping pretty busy over the last month.  My favorite baby-sitter Maggie moved away to North Carolina ( so, so sad ) so I've been hanging out with mi madre.  Every Tuesday we go to the funnest place in the whole wide world:  My Little Adventures.  There are tons of smart toys, kids, and things I can climb in, under, and over.  I love it there!

Wasn't sure if I wanted zucchini, pepper, or rice cracker...so I had all three.

Sometimes, I get really excited!!!!

Mi padre has been traveling a lot for work but when he's home we are always doing something fun.  One day he took us to the Camden Aquarium.  I've already been there so I showed him around.  Have you ever seen a Hippo's Booty?  I have!

I was able to get up close and "swim" with the fish in this glass enclosure that floats out into the ginormous tank.

Want to see something else that's funny?  

I just sneezed on daddy!

So somedays Momma gets pretty busy with cleaning and decorating.  So i decided to help her out:

Now we are getting ready for my birthday and just having fun.  The weather is still great here so we go on walks, play in the yard, and go swimming.  If anyone wants to come down to play with me let me know, I can check with momma.